The Witcher 3 (Finally) Goes Gold

[RandV80]

At this point I have mo idea what AAA means. I think it means budget or marketing. Nothing more

Witcher 3 is made on a smaller budget then most mid-tier US games though. What was it... 15-20 million dollars?
MEtro Last Light was around 9. STALKER was 10-20.

Meanwhile Destiny is 500 million (though half at most was for making the game) and CoD is 100+ million .

I'm speculating here, but the vast majority of a game projects budget will go to staff salaries. The Witcher is made in Poland, I'm sure the developers there are no less talented but using currency exchange to USD$ they're probably making a lot less than their North American or even Western Europe counterparts?

 

[Strazdas]

I'm speculating here, but the vast majority of a game projects budget will go to staff salaries. The Witcher is made in Poland, I'm sure the developers there are no less talented but using currency exchange to USD$ they're probably making a lot less than their North American or even Western Europe counterparts?

Yes, in Eastern europe 3 or 4 times lower pay is considered normal and thus companies could save a lot of money on salaries. this is why there are so many developement studios in eastern europe owned by US companies. Its videogames version of outsourcing abroad.

 

[Senare]

At this point I have mo idea what AAA means. I think it means budget or marketing. Nothing more

Originally AAA games was business-term, meaning games that got an A (highest mark) in the three important categories; customer acclaim, critical acclaim, and commercial success. Basically games that can justify a "Game of the Year Edition".

Though nowadays it simply means multi-million budget titles, that strive to make a true AAA game, and only rarely succeed.

That is actually a pretty good way to grade games, since I can adopt it to incorporate A-F as well.

For example I consider Assassins Creed: Unity for Playstation 4 to be a DCC game in comparison to AC: Black Flag being AAA or possibly BBA.

Assassins Creed: Unity
Customer acclaim: D (4.7 Metacritic)
Critical acclaim: C (70% Metacritic)
Commercial success: C (6.18 million units sold vs Black Flag's 12.12 million units sold, based on http://www.vgchartz.com/ )

I think that commercial success may need to be weighted against how much the title was expected to be sold.

 

[Scow2]

Someone explain to me what "going gold" is.

Retail copies are being printed and prepared. Special editions are in full production.

Work on the game has stopped and now all teams are relocated to post-release patches, DLC, expansion packs and the next project (CyberPunk 2077).

And lay-offs of the Quality Assurance department. Don't forget the mass lay-offs. Not that anyone ever cares about beta testers.

 

[J Tyran]

Urgh. UUUUUUURGH! Christ I have mixed feelings. I LOVE Projekt RED, absolutely love them, GOG.com is nothing but a little slice of heaven. But god damn it I just can't get into the Witcher series. Ugh. I'll look up some reviews and see how the gameplay handles and MAYBE I'll give it a shot.

I know what you mean, I've got both other witcher games but for the life of me I haven't been able to get into them like I've wanted. I'll still get this since they always have really good physical releases and this does look pretty cool so far, like a version of skyrim where what you do matters.

Thirded, I just cannot get into them. The world seems great, the characters seem great but something just puts me off the in the gameplay. They never pull me in the way other RPGs do even with 10s of hours and I just lose interest, I don't know why and it pisses me off. I want to enjoy these games, the same happened with Dragon Age: Inquisition I got 40 hours in and other matters distracted me and I never had that excitement you get that keeps you playing and I just abandoned it.

 

[Elfgore]

I actually wasn't very interested for the longest time, due to the fact my laptop can't run it. But after learning I can set choices for the previous games on console, I may be picking it up. I can't think of any game coming out between now and August that sounds all that interesting and I'm actually curious as to how well they can pull off an open world.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm a little perplexed by two things within a week of each over. First Grand Theft Auto V is actually released on PC, now The Witcher 3 can't be delayed for the umpteenth time.

Only one more game for the trifecta. Half Life 3 confirmed.

 

[Blitsie]

I can't wait to pick up my copy of the Collector's Edition on May 19th. I plan on also buying a GOG copy too.

This just occurred to me, I bet sooner or later they'll allow you to input your physical game's CD-key into GOG to get a digital copy for free, had that with the previous Witchers haha. Gosh I wish more bigger companies would follow in CD Projekt's footsteps or at least go in the same direction.

 

[Grumman]

This just occurred to me, I bet sooner or later they'll allow you to input your physical game's CD-key into GOG to get a digital copy for free, had that with the previous Witchers haha. Gosh I wish more bigger companies would follow in CD Projekt's footsteps or at least go in the same direction.

Steam already lets you do that - at least with the one game where I've tried it.

 

[Uhuru N'Uru]

Someone explain to me what "going gold" is.

Retail copies are being printed and prepared. Special editions are in full production.

Work on the game has stopped and now all teams are relocated to post-release patches, DLC, expansion packs and the next project (CyberPunk 2077).

Almost correct but nowadays with digial being the main method for releasing the game and patches, there will almost certainly be a patch to install as well as the release, so called day 1 patches are usually released with the game or even just before release, for preinstalling.

Also they already have another team working on CyberPunk 2077, the Witcher Team will concentrate on Patches and DLC for now, though undoubtably their will be some crossover of staff as time passes and CyberPunk 2077 ramps up to Full production.

Either way it's looking good and all last week CD Project Red invited prominant YouTubers for Multiple play sessions, they are under embargo for now, but can release footage of their playing from the 27th April.

First indications are that it's an awesome game.

Generally any Game Company willing to let YouTubers release footage and opinions, weeks before the release, knows they have a great game and wants to get the word out,

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Alla you guys who love the company but don't want to buy this game, don't force yourselves into it. Not really your duty, besides, with GOG.com there are many other ways to support them. If you find it within yourselves though, give it a crack, because that's what I did way back with the first one, and that took forever to actually become entertaining enough to fire it up willingly.

Don't ask me why I did though, probably because it was at a time when time was less fleeting, I was still single, in a new country with no close friends...you get what I mean.

OT: I usually limit myself to one *massive* open world game per "cycle", it was either going to be DA: Inquisition or this, and this takes it for me, easily. I'm glad to see it's such a success, the gameplay videos I've seen so far have me really hyped, I can't wait to see what the combat is like and whether it's possible to make a balanced character that uses magic, swordplay and drugs, seeing as open world games tend to allow more for overall specialization rather than picking one tree and maxing it.

 

[Uhuru N'Uru]

Retail version here is cheaper then STEAM version and equal to GoG version.
And I myself will get it

SO to me that is important.
that the first 2 Free DLCs are on the 20th of May. One is a big armour set, the second is a Yennefer quest and looks for her.

Well no retail version can match the GOG version, even if the base price is the same, only the GOG version has all the extras on top for that price. The other reasons for getting off GOG are;
Supporting GOG's DRM free principles, which is still important even when it's already a DRM free free release like Wither 3.
Providing a bigger cut to CD Project Red and GOG by not paying for DVD's.

There are many good reasons buying the Boxed game. Ranging from no or very bad Internet to I just want the box.
The Witcher 3 deal on GOG is exclusive to GOG and not available any other way.
Ignoring that for a moment, to be equal in price the product must be the same as well, not just the major item.